The practice of anodizing, or controlled oxidation, of aluminum and its alloys has been around for more than seven decades.
The main intention behind anodizing aluminum and its alloy parts is to protect the highly reactive surface against corrosion in aqueous environments, such as humid air and seawater.
Since anodic coating can be produced in a range of colors, painted parts are generally used in architectural applications.
Additionally, as the AC aluminum anodizing process would produce a hard ceramic coating, harder than the substrate from which it is formed, anodic coatings are also used to protect aluminum parts from abrasions, especially sand abrasion.
The traditional anodizing process is electrochemical oxidation.
The part to be anodized is then connected to the positive terminal of a direct current (DC) power source and a non-reactive metal, such as stainless steel, is attached to the negative terminal.
The aluminum anode and the stainless steel cathode are then immersed in an electrolytic bath and DC voltage is applied across them.
The potential difference is of the order of 20-100 V and the current density is 1-10 A / dm2. The electrolytic bath comprises aqueous solutions of chromic acid, orthophosphoric acid, oxalic acid, sulfuric acid, or combinations thereof.
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